Democrats
The biggest presidential primary in the nation’s history yielded no decisive winner in the fight for the Democratic nomination Tuesday.
While Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., won more states, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., won states with higher numbers of delegates.
Delegates will go on to choose a nominee at the party’s national convention in Denver this August. One candidate will need at least 2,025 delegates to be the nominee.
More than four-fifths of those delegates were at stake Tuesday. As of press time, Clinton led Obama 475 to 451 in pledged delegates.
She also leads in so-called super delegates – current and former elected officials and party insiders who can pick a candidate regardless of how their state votes. According to CNN, Clinton had 193 super delegates to Obama’s 106.
“It looks like we’ve still got some pretty wide open space here,” Andrew Plambeck, University student and member of the College Democrats said.
Obama won contests that were too close to call 24 hours earlier in Missouri, Connecticut, Utah and Delaware. He won with more than 65 percent of the vote in Georgia, Illinois, Alaska, Colorado, Kansas and Minnesota.
Clinton won in New Jersey, Massachusetts and California – states where she was expected to do well but where Obama had surged in recent days. She carried more than 65 percent of the vote only in Arkansas, where she was once first lady.
Plambeck, an Obama supporter, said he thought either candidate would do well against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who won the majority of the Republican contests Tuesday.
“I think Obama and McCain contrast pretty well. I’d enjoy that debate,” he said.
Plambeck was reluctant to say he would support Clinton should she be the nominee.
“I would have concerns about how Hillary would run a campaign,” he said, though he would support most of her platform. “I wonder about people who might look for other options.”
He said former supporters of Ralph Nader and Green party members who flocked to the Democratic party after Al Gore lost in 2000 might be hesitant to support Clinton.
“I think some of those have been criticizing Hillary for her time on the board of directors of Wal-Mart and things like that. She probably deserves more support than people give her credit for, but I think there may definitely be an element of that,” he said.
Republicans
Sen. John McCain swept most of the contests for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, as most polls had predicted in previous days.
In a more unexpected showing, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won five southern states, blocking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and revitalizing Huckabee’s under-funded campaign.
As of press time Tuesday, McCain had a projected 514 delegates, Romney had 177, and Huckabee had 122. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas had 11.
A total of 1,191 delegates are needed to secure the nomination.
Romney supporters hit Huckabee hard recently, accusing him of doing McCain’s bidding and stealing votes from Romney.
“You know, over the past few days a lot of people have been trying to say this is a two-man race,” Huckabee said to a gathering of supporters in Arkansas. “Well, you know what? It is. And we’re in it.”
Huckabee was the projected winner in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee. He was projected to come in second in Oklahoma and Missouri. Earlier in the day he won a caucus in West Virginia.
Aaron Polk, a University student and member of the College Republicans, said he wasn’t surprised by Huckabee’s strong showing.
“His voters are really religiously influenced,” Polk said. “With Romney being a Mormon, that doesn’t play too well with Huckabee’s supporters.”
It is difficult to tell whether evangelical voters, who split between Huckabee, McCain and Romney, were influenced more by Romney’s religion or some other factor.
McCain told his supporters Tuesday night that he is now the Republican front-runner, a title he has seemed uncomfortable with in the past.
Romney said he will stay in the race until the nominating convention this summer. He has already given tens of millions of dollars to his campaign, and could continue to self-finance.
Polk said he supports Romney because he thinks Romney would better handle the nation’s economy.
“I have nothing against (McCain), I’d just prefer Romney to win,” he said.
He also said that he would prefer Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to be the Democratic nominee for her experience and her ability to handle the economy better than Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
“After doing some careful research on Obama and Clinton, I’d pick Clinton. Given that she was on the corporate board of Wal-Mart I think she could (help me) keep my job,” Polk said.
The next Republican contests are on Saturday in Kansas, Louisiana and Washington, followed by Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
“Maybe it could come down to an Oregon vote later,” Polk said. Oregon votes May 20.
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